Public Forum on Streetscape Expansion Scheduled

Grossman is president of E.G. & G., a multi-disciplinary design and planning firm located in Akron, Ohio, that specializes in comprehensive streetscape and community planning projects. The firm has led more than fifty streetscape and revitalization projects and is currently implementing multi-million dollar streetscapes in McMinnville and Ashland City, Tennessee.

Sponsored by the Heritage Foundation of Williamson County, the City of Franklin, and Franklin Tomorrow, the April 28 forum will present ideas for expanding Streetscape design principles into adjacent historic districts and out to Franklin’s gateways.

“We’re all proud of our historic downtown,” said Franklin Mayor Tom Miller. “This forum is a chance to hear ideas about how we can improve the design of some of the other parts of town that create our unique sense of place. I hope everyone who cares about where we live will join us in the board room.”

The public forum is scheduled immediately before the city’s regular 6 p.m. public transportation committee to make it convenient for transportation committee members to attend in addition to members of the public.

“Our historic districts and our gateways into town are two of the keystones of what makes Franklin special,” said Alderman Dan Klatt, chairman of the city’s Transportation Committee. “We’re excited at the chance to hear John Grossman’s ideas about these two design priorities.”

“John Grossman is a visionary,” said Mary Pearce, Heritage Foundation executive director. “But he not only has a great eye for design; he also has terrific common sense about what is physically, fiscally, and politically possible. Without John, Main Street wouldn’t look as it does today.”

Completed in 1991, Streetscape was a $2.5 million project of the Heritage Foundation, the Downtown Franklin Association, and the City of Franklin to revitalize downtown Franklin’s commercial core. The project included underground utilities, decorative brick pavers, street trees, period streetlights, and pavement redesign. Perhaps the most dramatic change was conversion of the Public Square from a square into a circle, a design change that both calmed traffic and facilitated traffic movement. The conversion also included elevation of the center of the square to protect the monument and allow for plantings.

Streetscape was the culmination of a dozen years of private efforts to transform Main Street from a decaying, half-vacant, sleepy town center into a vibrant upscale shopping district with upstairs apartments and offices. Many of the historic buildings downtown had been covered with aluminum, and 1960s vintage metal canopies covered much of the sidewalk area. One of the lowest points of Main Street was the burning of the Ben Franklin five and dime store. City officials were at the point of ordering demolition of the burned out shell when an engineer convinced them it could be saved. The building today is the home of The Iron Gate.

Visionary real estate investors, including Calvin Lehew, current owner and developer of the Factory, had begun transforming downtown buildings, helped in part by a federal program that gives tax credits for certified historic restorations. Lehew’s work included the buildings on the corner of Fourth Avenue South and Main Street that now houses Sandy’s Downtown Grille. When Lehew began the restaurant conversion, a furniture store at that key corner location was about to close its doors.

Streetscape was the icing on downtown Franklin’s cake, said Rudy Jordan, then director of the Downtown Franklin Association. “After so many people had committed incredible private resources, energy, and vision to the revitalization process, the City, the Heritage Foundation, and private property owners stepped up to the plate with Streetscape. Thanks to the design genius of John Grossman, Main Street finally began looking like what you see today.”

Private property owners helped fund Streetscape by agreeing to tax themselves over a ten-year period, while private individuals donated improvements from commemorative pavers to the restoration of each of the four quadrants of the Square.

Since completion of Streetscape, Franklin’s historic preservation effort has earned a number of national awards, including recognition by the U.S. Department of the Interior as a National Main Street town and, most recently, designation as a Preserve America community by First Lady Laura Bush.

“People who know anything about small town revitalization and preservation know about Franklin,” said Grossman, who earned a Master of Arts degree from the University of Louvain in Belgium. “It keeps winning national awards, and many officials credit Franklin’s sensitivity to its past and its special sense of place with being a driving force in the city’s incredible economic vitality.”

“We have Franklin’s square on the E. G. & G. home page (http://eggco.com/) because we’re proud of what we helped accomplish there,” said Grossman. “I hope we can suggest some further ideas to make the experience of living in and visiting Franklin even more special.”

“During the 2001 visioning process, over and over again, citizens cited our small-town identity and charm as their number one priority,” said Susan Minor, executive director of Franklin Tomorrow, one of the sponsors of the April 28 forum.

Heritage Foundation and city officials are expecting a packed house for the Public Forum April 28, so residents are urged to get there early to assure a seat. For further information, call the Heritage Foundation at 591-8500.

Before and after pictures of Streetscape are available at http://harpethcommunications.com/Streetscape.htm

-30-

Back to the Downtown Neighborhood Association home page